The use of sound effects by musicians is quite popular, especially with guitar players. Examples of the types of sound effects that can be generated include distortion, fuzz, overdrive, chorus, reverberation, wah-wah, flanging, phaser or pitch shifting. Historically, these sound effects were generated by sound effect generators or more broadly as signal processing/altering devices or audio components. These devices are also commonly called effects pedals or stomp boxes.
Some sound effect pedals are manipulated while the musician is playing by rocking a large treadle potentiometer back and forth, thus the relative position of the “pedal” determines the extension to which the sound is altered. In other sound effect pedals, the musician simply presses a switch or turns a knob to get the desired sound. Once activated, through one of the above methods, these sound effects pedals can process the signal through digital or analog means. However, in known sound effects pedals, the sound effects pedal internally varies the input signal to produce an effected output.